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Should preferred hair length greatly matter when deciding on number of grafts to be transplanted?

Yes, the shorter you like to wear your hair, the more grafts are required because it takes more hair to cover the scalp when the hair is cut very short. Longer styling length helps cover the scalp

Do you happen to know if topical fin is considered safer in terms of side effects then oral?

For those who have no side effects, oral finasteride is fine. For others, the topical may be a better solution as it is reported to have far less side effects.

I came down with high fever last November 2009. For several days, my temp was 105 degrees. After a week, my hair started falling out. the worst affected areas were the crown and the top. My dermatologist said I had a bout with TE. Today, May 2010, six months later, the shedding has significantly lessened and i guess has returned to normal BUT the hairs lost to TE still hasn’t grown back. How long does it take for those hairs to regrow?

I am 45, male and had very thick hair before this nightmare. My two older brothers have genetic balding but one older brother was ‘spared’ and still has thick hair even though he is over 50. My hair is still thick except for the part of the crown where I lost a lot during TE. Will they ever grow back?

Thanks for your attention!

It can take up to one full year to see hair regrowth start. Remember though, when it grows, it grows at a rate of 1/2 inch per month.

If you have genetic balding and the fever precipitated the hair loss it may never come back completely, but if it was just a telogen effluvium like your dermatologist says, that will be known to you by the end of this year.

I recently read a posting on baldingblog where a women suggested the use of Visine to stop hairloss. I’ve heard of using visine to help sooth razorburn an ingrown hair as I assume it has antiflammatory medication.

I’ve read other places that some people think hairloss is a type of immune response of our body, where DHT causes the structure of the hair follicle to change. At some point our own immune systems reject the changed follicle and attack it, ultimately causing the phenomenon we see as balding. Somewhere else I read that in cases, such as people getting transplants take immune suppressing drugs such as Cyclocsporine, to stop organ rejection, actually noticed hair regrowth.

Going back to the woman who earlier spoke of the Visine treatment that she heard, this woman said that her hairloss got worse after she moved. Speaking from my own experience, I have noticed that certain immune responses happen when one changes environment. For instance, I grew up in New Jersey and never suffered any real allergies or medical problems. When I moved out to California when I was 16, notice an increase in my hyper-histamine.. or histamine positive response. I believe thats what you called it. In particular, I developed an allergic reaction to heat.

Anyhow, its interesting to think that environment may have a small role in a complex immune response that results in hair loss.

Is hairloss a more modern occurrence? I mean, does hairloss occur more in modern society? I remember reading an article recently in Wired that said that when comparing lab mice with sewer rats, the sewer rats had “better” immune systems because of their dirty environment. The immune systems of the lab rats tended to overreact to stimuli. On the other hand, the sewer rats immune systems better defended against real threats while not overreacting to things such as allergens. ( https://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,71185-0.html)

Anyway, thx for your blog, Dr Rassman. It’s always interesting and entertaining!

I agree with you that although hair loss is caused by genes, it can be influenced by the environment where chemical products, drugs, malnutrition, and stress can induce the expression of balding genes. Hair loss is not a modern society occurrence. Men have been bald since the beginning of recorded time. Hats and wigs have been around since the earliest records in the history of civilization.

Are we more self conscious with hair loss today? Somehow I doubt that, but we do have better communication (like this blog and the internet in general) to share what is happening to us with others. We do know that autoimmune diseases can cause hair loss by creating antibodies attacking the hair follicles, but that may not mean that hair loss is always an immune modulated disorder. A famous doctor told me once that sooner or later (he predicts) that we will learn that every disease entity will arise from either infection or genetics. At this point though, who really knows?

It was a 1,000 graft FUE surgery when I was 22. I experienced severe shock loss post surgery and lost plenty of native hair all around especially from the top. However, I did see some results in the front. I want to do another surgery to improve my situation but fear the loss of more native hair. I don’t want to be on medication such as Finasteride due its side effects. Can you’ll suggest me what to do?

Part of the reason I don’t do surgery on 22 year-old men is that they often develop shock loss, lose more native hair (a normal evolution but accelerated from the transplant when you were 22) and then you have to chase it. The real question is what will be your final hair loss pattern and will you have enough hair to follow the loss to its normal completion? I can usually answer this in young men under 26, but not in men 22 or 23. I consider doing a hair transplant on a 22 year-old like you, malpractice on the part of the doctor.